Does Grass Only of Mesh Type Appear in HDRP?

[goodGraphicGuy]

The default basic Biome in Gaia Pro 2021, it's Alp something.....i forgot the name and i chekced the terrain and saw that in the Trees there are 2 types, and they are more like small trees...and Then in Details, there's grasses and flowers but they apear to be Billboaards and i do get bunch of White planes covering my terrain which i saw in the Tutorial video and the guy said that when you run the game they will turn fine in HDRP and render as grass....But in my case using that biome they don't...And it's probably because they are Billboards and not Meshes.

Does HDRP not render Billboar flowers and grasses?

 

[Bryan]

On 3/5/2022 at 6:55 AM, goodGraphicGuy said:

The default basic Biome in Gaia Pro 2021, it's Alp something.....i forgot the name and i chekced the terrain and saw that in the Trees there are 2 types, and they are more like small trees...and Then in Details, there's grasses and flowers but they apear to be Billboaards and i do get bunch of White planes covering my terrain which i saw in the Tutorial video and the guy said that when you run the game they will turn fine in HDRP and render as grass....But in my case using that biome they don't...And it's probably because they are Billboards and not Meshes.

Does HDRP not render Billboar flowers and grasses?

 

That correct Unity does not handle Grass in HDRP this is why you would see white planes. 
In Gaia Pro 2021 we created Flora which does allow you to have grass in playmode. You still would see White planes in editor mode. 

All you need to do is make sure that you are using Gaia Pro 2021, and make sure that flora is in the scene. 
You can check to see if Flora is enabled by clicking on the of the terrains and you should see flora terrain tile attached to the terrains inspector. 



If this is not the case you can go to Window - Procedural Worlds - Flora - Flora Manager: 


Click on Add Flora To Scene: 


Next you can spawn the grass from the biome and have flora automatically build the flora renders or you can set this up. 

In the grass spawner itself Alpine Meadow - Grass as an example you want to open the resource settings for the grass - and select Enable Flora System: 



You can select here Enable All- Which will enable all the flora systems in that spawner and all the details to work with flora. 
You can also select Autocreate Configure - which will automatically create configured settings objects for your grass (you can change these settings later if need). 

Last thing you want to check is the Flora Renders on the terrain: 
The renders are how many renders you need for the different grass types. 
You can change the Source Data Type: 
Splat - which is determined by textures (first texture on the left is 0 - 8 ) etc. 
Detail is based of where the grass was spawned. same thing ( first detail is 0 - x ) etc. 
 

[goodGraphicGuy]

Thanks alot for your help by the way just yesterday i update to latest Gaia Pro 2021 version 3.2.2. I'm learning. Except nothing what i tried of what you told me made the Details( grass, flowers, etc) of the Alpine Meadow biome appear. I think the only thing that appears are some rocks and some small like bushes, everything else doesn't appear.

Here's my list of problems

1.  I added FLora to my scene, is it supposed to actually appear in the Hierarchy? I don't see any Flora object. i'm guessing it's not supposed to be one.

2. When i go to the terrain and to the Flora section i noticed there was a Source Camera section. It said NONE, so i thought that was the reason why i see no Details, i tried dropping my Camera in there but everytime i pushed play nothing really change and then i would notice the Source camera section would go back to NONE, then i'm assuming we're not supposed to put any cameras in there

3. i notice in Flora Global Manager, it says Details Tracked ZERO. Is this how is supposed to be?

4. For My Grass Objects in the hierarchy as you can see in my image included i have Enable Flora System checked, and yet nothing is showing up.

5.  in Flora Manager, i even went to the Step 2 Utils and Clicked Get Details Only, thought that would make things work, didn't.

6. And also if you see my included images of my trees, Zero get spawned. Is it because i'm using the Micro terrain for practice?   I think i tried it another time with the regular size bigger terrain and i did get trees. The micro terrain seems big enough to fit some trees, why no trees get spawned?

7. Finally I notice the Shadows are bit dim, or low quality, which is maybe best for games i know but is there option to make them more crisp and high quality?

[goodGraphicGuy]

Hi i'm adding a little more that i found.

Many of the Biome stuff are not spawning like Mushrooms. THey remain at zero even after i spawn them individually.

I spawn the Alpine medow...And No Trees at all..So i tried spawning individual by going to the Hierarchy and selecting the Trees object. ANd then in the inspector I discovered if i change the Resource type from Game Object to Terrain Tree. Then IT WORKS!!!!

The trees spawned!!!!

==I tried the same with the mushrooms but that just messed them up.

---So i tried leaving the mushrooms as Resource type "Game Object and push Spawn world but i get this message error

Quote

Exception while spawning: Object reference not set to an instance of an object Stack Trace:   at Gaia.Spawner.ExecuteSpawn (Gaia.GaiaMultiTerrainOperation operation, Gaia.BakedMaskCache collisionMaskCache, System.Int32 totalSpawns, System.Int32& totalSpawsCompleted, System.Boolean allowStatic) [0x003e2] in D:\Combo\ZZUnityGameProjects2021\A_MyGame\MyGamePROv1.0\Assets\Procedural Worlds\Gaia\Scripts\SpawningSystem\Spawner.cs:2772
UnityEngine.Debug:LogError (object)
Gaia.Spawner:ExecuteSpawn (Gaia.GaiaMultiTerrainOperation,Gaia.BakedMaskCache,int,int&,bool) (at Assets/Procedural Worlds/Gaia/Scripts/SpawningSystem/Spawner.cs:2914)
Gaia.Spawner/<AreaSpawn>d__217:MoveNext () (at Assets/Procedural Worlds/Gaia/Scripts/SpawningSystem/Spawner.cs:2344)
Gaia.Spawner:EditorUpdate () (at Assets/Procedural Worlds/Gaia/Scripts/SpawningSystem/Spawner.cs:1009)
UnityEditor.EditorApplication:Internal_CallUpdateFunctions ()

 

=Fren Plants are also set to Terrain Tree Resource Type but when i spawn they end up spawning ZERO

=ALpine Meadow Flowers , Spawned perfectly

=BIrds and Butterflies, mmmmm.. i keep pushing the Spawn button to see if i get more than 2. And the most i get is like 2 birds. Can there be more than 2 birds? or more than 1 or 2 butterflies in a scene?

=And then i'm including yet another picture of how in my Unity Terrain created by Gaia i have my Flora Render thing and it has the grassses and flower..so why aren't they showing up?

I'm testing stuff while you guys get back to me

[goodGraphicGuy]

Another update. I discovered one thing. Before i add any Biomes, it helps add the Flora(hdrp), it still doesn't show the grass but it made the trees and stones and rocks spawn. before i was only getting one type of rock spawning.( there's 2 in the alpine meadonws but i would just get 1 , even i psuh spawn many times).   Bitds, still says only 2 but i'm seeing alittle more butterflies althorugh it says only 1.

[Bryan]

In order for the Source Data Type - Detail to work, you would need to spawn the grass on the terrain. 
Detail is based off the terrain details. 

What you could try is set the Source Data Type - Flora Renders (on the terrain) to Splat. 
This would spawned based on textures. Remember that the first texture on the left is 0 - X number of textures. 

The next thing: 
Rocks, houses, etc. these are all game objects and should spawn. 
Grass is slightly different and when you spawn the grass it should show in the editor as white planes. 

One thing I would check to make sure is in the terrain settings make sure that Draw Instanced is enabled: 


This could impact spawning in a negative way if this is disabled. 

You are more than welcome to leave the Source Data Type - Detail 
but you would need to spawn the grass in the world. 

For the Spawns I would check the visualization of the spawners to make sure that these are set correctly: 


Also make sure that your Spawner - Spawn Mode is set to replace or add. 
 

[goodGraphicGuy]

Hey Bryan it worked!!! Awesome. Except one thing that is weird. It seems to work with some cameras and not with others, i mean, i don't see the grass Covering the terrain as it should with some Camera and with some i do.

Like i use this System for cars that uses a camera and when my Third person player gets in it, it uses that Car camera system, and  the Gaia grass then, it does cover The terrain...well, as you move closer you see it more .

But when i get out of the car and use the Character controller camera( third person), i only see immediate grass and then i walk and notice only a patch of the terraain is covered with grass , and as i walk, nothing else is covered with grass. it's weird how with the car camera, as i move along more and more grasss is shown everywhere, but with the character controller camera...the grass ends and then everything is bare.

[Bryan]

This could be a few different things. 
I would one check the layers of the camera and make sure its set correctly with the terrain. 

On the other instance it could be that you might need to switch to the Custom Player. 
I have never tried to do this use case so im unsure which of the two things needs to happen. 
1. Best case you would need to leave the camera blank in the custom player from the Gaia manager. Then it should automatically pull the camera that is in use. 
2. If that doesnt work then you would need to adjust or make a script to tie into the Gaia Custom player that will switch the player and camera depending on what you are using. 

Gaia systems depend on the custom and player to be assigned. So I could see it that its only controlling one of them and not switching. 

Try that and let me know how it goes. 
More than likely the second solution is going to be it. Easiest solution would be number 1, but game development is never easy hehe. 
 

[goodGraphicGuy]

Hi Thanks for all your help but i'm back because what i thought worked is not working anymore.

Many of the objects dont' spawn like for example with the Alpine meadow biome.  Trees don't spawn( just the 2 small ones), Stones...only the first one gets any rocks, the second one get 0 always...I tried changing it to another rock and then it did work.

But then all the other things also many things dont' spawn anything, just ZERO.

Why many things dont' spawn anything even if i push the spawn button many times. Was the rules for the spawner created incorrectly?

OH and Mushrooms Don't Spawn nothing. Says ZERO. Many of the ones that don't spawn have a message saying something about the Location value is something something..but i try changing it and still no luck.

What can I do?

2) I also want to know what should i do, if i want to put roads or houses in the terrain, how do i clear the space to put roads if there are many grasses or rocks there..Or how do i clear space if there are trees, plants, rocks, Houses from the alpin e meadow all over and my house or small village doesn't fit

 

Here is some pictures showing what doesn't spawn nothing in Alpine meadows

1) PWStone 01 Moss, always gets 0 items spawned.

2) For Trees, NONE of the trees gets spawned except PW_Tree Stump 04 02

I have no clue why. One time as i showed you in my picture i did get trees but i have no clue how i did it. Right now i'm testing in 2021.1.16, and when i showed you i was in 2021.1.28.

 

But i don't think the Unity version being higher should matter because even the PW team recommends the lower version , i think the LTS 2020.3.32,  When the Discord was active they would always recommend that version. So then i wonder if i should downgrade to that version

3) NOn of the FERNS spawn anything

4) Flowers Yellow or the other Flower never spawn any

5) Grass and Flowers of type billboards( i think they are) do spawn except i forgot how i should be able to see them. I activate flora for the scene then in the terrain i set all the Flora things to Splat...which is what i did before when it kind of worked in 2021.1.28 but in 2021.1.16 nothing is showing up

6) Butterflies, Birds, Pollen ALways ZERO in 2021.1.16,   in 2021.1.28 i did get 1 bird and maybe 1 butterfly and 1 pollen but not in 2021.1.16. But in any case why only 1 bird, 1 butterfly. I would think at least 20 birds, 100 butterflies or something like that is more realistic.

 

Well that's my report. If you have any suggestions how to fix all this and tell me why nothing spawns correctly. thanks

[Bryan]

3 hours ago, goodGraphicGuy said:

Hi Thanks for all your help but i'm back because what i thought worked is not working anymore.

Many of the objects dont' spawn like for example with the Alpine meadow biome.  Trees don't spawn( just the 2 small ones), Stones...only the first one gets any rocks, the second one get 0 always...I tried changing it to another rock and then it did work.

But then all the other things also many things dont' spawn anything, just ZERO.

Why many things dont' spawn anything even if i push the spawn button many times. Was the rules for the spawner created incorrectly?

OH and Mushrooms Don't Spawn nothing. Says ZERO. Many of the ones that don't spawn have a message saying something about the Location value is something something..but i try changing it and still no luck.

What can I do?

2) I also want to know what should i do, if i want to put roads or houses in the terrain, how do i clear the space to put roads if there are many grasses or rocks there..Or how do i clear space if there are trees, plants, rocks, Houses from the alpin e meadow all over and my house or small village doesn't fit

 

Here is some pictures showing what doesn't spawn nothing in Alpine meadows

1) PWStone 01 Moss, always gets 0 items spawned.

2) For Trees, NONE of the trees gets spawned except PW_Tree Stump 04 02

I have no clue why. One time as i showed you in my picture i did get trees but i have no clue how i did it. Right now i'm testing in 2021.1.16, and when i showed you i was in 2021.1.28.

 

But i don't think the Unity version being higher should matter because even the PW team recommends the lower version , i think the LTS 2020.3.32,  When the Discord was active they would always recommend that version. So then i wonder if i should downgrade to that version

3) NOn of the FERNS spawn anything

4) Flowers Yellow or the other Flower never spawn any

5) Grass and Flowers of type billboards( i think they are) do spawn except i forgot how i should be able to see them. I activate flora for the scene then in the terrain i set all the Flora things to Splat...which is what i did before when it kind of worked in 2021.1.28 but in 2021.1.16 nothing is showing up

6) Butterflies, Birds, Pollen ALways ZERO in 2021.1.16,   in 2021.1.28 i did get 1 bird and maybe 1 butterfly and 1 pollen but not in 2021.1.16. But in any case why only 1 bird, 1 butterfly. I would think at least 20 birds, 100 butterflies or something like that is more realistic.

 

Well that's my report. If you have any suggestions how to fix all this and tell me why nothing spawns correctly. thanks

Can you open the visualization and check to see if its showing on the terrain? 
This would be the (eye ball) icon in the spawner next to the color. 

Then I would make sure that your Sea Level is not above the area you wish to spawn on. 

Then you can check to see if Draw Instance is enabled on the terrain settings in the Inspector of the terrain. 

[goodGraphicGuy]

Hi Bryan, the Sea level is not above my terrain so thats' not problem. And also Draw Instance is enabled on terrain settings.

But still, all the trees except for PW Tree Stum 04 02, do not spawn nothing. look at picture. Also I show you picture i'm getting some warning about the spawner for the trees.

[goodGraphicGuy]

Update. I'm discovering that the Alpine Meadow has a problem. The trees just won't spawn, but i tried the other one, the Coniferous Forest, and in that biome, the trees ALWAYS spawn! However, in that one i'm having trouble with the Grass showing up even if i add flora, and even if i change in the terrain the Flora renders to SPLAT.

 

Another thing i discovered just 1 minute ago is I tried to use the Gaia First Person, instead of using my own third person character with it's camera...and guess what happened.. Now the Grass is visible!!!! and i didn't even have to change the Flora Renders to Splat.   So why aren't the grasses visible with my own Thrird person player( which uses a camera)?

 

PS Now i switched from Unity 2021.1.28 to Unity 2020.3.32 LTS

[Bryan]

5 hours ago, goodGraphicGuy said:

Update. I'm discovering that the Alpine Meadow has a problem. The trees just won't spawn, but i tried the other one, the Coniferous Forest, and in that biome, the trees ALWAYS spawn! However, in that one i'm having trouble with the Grass showing up even if i add flora, and even if i change in the terrain the Flora renders to SPLAT.

 

Another thing i discovered just 1 minute ago is I tried to use the Gaia First Person, instead of using my own third person character with it's camera...and guess what happened.. Now the Grass is visible!!!! and i didn't even have to change the Flora Renders to Splat.   So why aren't the grasses visible with my own Thrird person player( which uses a camera)?

 

PS Now i switched from Unity 2021.1.28 to Unity 2020.3.32 LTS

If you want to use your own Third Person Player you will need to use Custom Player and assign the player and camera. 
The reason for this is due to the Gaia Systems all talk to each other. 

Flora would not work if the Gaia Player is not active in the scene but thats not to say that your player cant be used, you just have to use the custom player. 

As far as the biome not spawning I would check the masks and make sure that there isnt a mask that is blocking the spawners from spawning. 

The visualization should help solve the issue behind why something isnt spawning. 
The warnings are fine and shouldnt be the reason they are not spawning it would have to do with a mask that would be causing an issue.